mp3 compression/decompression... get HELP? hehe

[zskillz]

I've been using a program called MP3 Compressor to compress some wave files that I have down to mp3's...
now here's the question. When i compress a wav to an mp3, and then I use winamp to decompress it back to a .wav, do I lose ANY sound quality.

I'm asking because I won't have the ability to get my hands on these .wav's easily again, and i don't want to even delete them if it's gonna be a problem.

thanks,
-Z

[loser]

well, zskillz, you will lose sound quality, BUT none the human ear will notice. As you see, mp3's files get rid of frequencies from a wav file until the quality starts to suffer. So you WILL lose quality but none you will notice.

[zskillz]

darn, well, thx for letting me know...
-Z

[OuTpaTienT]

Hold on just a minute z.

You will lose sound quality. And you might very well be able to hear it. Tell me, what bit rate are you compressing to?

128kbps? - then YES you will lose audible sound quality.
160kbps? - you MIGHT not be able to notice the loss
192kbps? - very doubtful you could tell any loss (maybe at high volumes)
225+kbps? - should sound great

Something else to consider: what will you be doing with these files in the future? If you're just going to listen to them once in a while, then going to a high qualtiy setting mp3 is fine. However, if you need to edit/mix/transfer format/burn to CD/or basically do anything beside just listen to them then you'd be wise to keep them in the original WAV format.

[zskillz]

hehe.. well actually it's only 64 kbps at 44khz (whatever that means)... it's a mono sound file is why I think it's like that.

see the problem is that I used a audio program to copy the songs off of a minidisc (one of my bands shows www.twelvecents.com (http://www.twelvecents.com) - sorry, shameless plug). the sound quality isn't that great anyway, so I don't want it to get any worse when I burn cd's for the band from it.

thanks out,
-Z

btw - when I'm compressing these files, i'm givin 2 options
WAV mp3 format
or just mp3 format...
what's the difference?


[This message has been edited by zskillz (edited 03-04-2001).]

[Variable]

you will not loose any quality when you use a high enough quality for the mp3s!
128 or 160 should be fine since MiniDisc already compressed them heavily (ATRAC) and I think the quality loss is even higher!